


Yule Be Surprised

by imaginary_golux



Series: October Ficlet Challenge [23]
Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Awkward Flirting, Banter, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 18:38:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12348354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: Prompt 12: Hogwarts AUJonathan Conte is madly in love with Thayet jian Wilima. Thayet is just as head-over-heels for him. All Raoul and Buri want is to spend a few quiet hours with each other...if their best friends would just get their acts together already, and ask each other to the Yule Ball.And who is Trebond going with, anyway?Prompt and beta by my Best Beloved, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.





	Yule Be Surprised

Jon flops down next to Raoul and sprawls out over him like a particularly friendly lethifold. “Raouuuul,” he whines, “you gotta help me.”

“Hello, Jon,” Raoul sighs. “It’s good to see you too. How was your day? And how do you keep getting into our Common Room?”

“I’m the Head Boy, that has to come with _some_ privileges,” Jon says brightly. “And you gotta help me!”

“You said that already,” Raoul points out. “What mad scheme have you come up with this time?”

“Yule Ball is coming up,” Jon says.

“Yes, I know,” Raoul says patiently. He’s learned over the years to let Jon get around to whatever is currently bothering him in his own time.

“Do you have a date yet?” Jon asks plaintively.

“Yes,” Raoul says, straight-faced. Jon snorts.

“No you don’t, you big liar. Anyway. I want to ask Thayet to go with me, but -”

“But she’s intimidatingly beautiful and anytime you get within a meter of her you lose the ability to speak coherently?” Raoul asks, grinning.

“Yes, precisely! - No, wait, that’s not true, I am _witty_ , everyone says so.”

Raoul shakes his head in mock sorrow. “Such delusions, it’s just sad,” he says.

“Fine, alright, it’s sad, but you gotta help me. What do I _do_?”

Raoul sighs and scrubs a hand over his face, then looks up at the ceiling. “Merlin, why me?” he asks the black-and-yellow banners. “Alright, look. What’s jian Wilima’s favorite candy?”

“Chocolate Frogs,” Jon says promptly.

“So go down to Hogsmeade and get her one of the Frog bouquets they’re doing these days, and give it to her, and ask her to the dance.”

“Brilliant!” Jon cries, shooting to his feet and darting out of the Common Room.

“Not right _now_ , you - ah, why do I bother,” Raoul says, settling back into the couch.

Buri comes in through the open door, closing it carefully behind her, and settles next to Raoul with a sigh. “Patrol went pretty quiet,” she says. “Want to tell me why Conte just went by like someone lit a fire under his tail?”

“Just Jon being Jon,” Raoul says, draping an arm around Buri’s shoulders. She hums quietly and leans against him, head on his shoulder, and Raoul goes back to studying his Charms homework with a smile.

*

“Buri, you have to help me,” Thayet hisses, sliding into the seat next to Buri’s. Buri glances at her friend and then up at the blackboard, where a chalk drawing is morphing from a hedgehog to a hairbrush and back again.

“I think you’ve got this, you’re good at Transfiguration,” Buri says.

“No, not _that_ \- I read up on it last night, that’ll be fine -”

“Are you sure you’re a Gryffindor?” Buri asks, grinning. “And not a Ravenclaw wearing the wrong colors?”

“Shush, you,” Thayet grumbles. “No, it’s - Yule Ball is coming up.”

“Yes, and?”

“Well, do _you_ have a date yet?”

“Yes,” Buri says. “Why?”

“Ugh, you don’t have to _tease_ ,” Thayet says grumpily. “Because I want to go with Jon Conte, that’s why.”

“...So ask him,” Buri says. “It’s not like we’re in the middle ages. Girls can ask guys.”

“I don’t even think he _likes_ me,” Thayet hisses. “He never talks to me!”

“That’s because you’re the terrifyingly beautiful empress of all you survey,” Buri points out dryly.

“Not helping!” Thayet says.

“Look, if you want to talk to him, rearrange the patrol schedules so you’re with him,” Buri says. “Then he’ll _have_ to spend time with you.”

“ _Brilliant_!” Thayet says, and then turns abruptly as Professor McGonagall comes striding in, and pays strict attention to the blackboard.

Raoul falls in beside Buri as they leave the classroom. “What was all that, then?” he asks, taking Buri’s books and draping his arm over her shoulders. “Jian Wilima looked like you just told her how to make the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“Eh, just Thayet being Thayet,” Buri says. “Nothing to worry about. Did you get the reading done for History?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty straightforward,” Raoul says cheerfully, as they wait for the staircase to come around again.

*

“Raoul!” Jon cries, leaping triumphantly onto the sofa. Raoul carefully puts his butterbeer down on the end table. “Raoul, I got to _patrol_ with her! I was witty! She _laughed_!”

“Well done,” Raoul says, stifling a chuckle at his friend’s antics. “Did you give her the Frogs?”

“No, I’m going to do that tomorrow, after I get to Hogsmeade,” Jon says. “Merlin, but she’s so _beautiful_ , Raoul, her hair is like - like - like the sky on a moonless night, all covered in stars -” he sighs dreamily.

“No bad poetry in the Common Room,” Raoul says dryly. “It’s a rule.” He points at the big parchment tacked to the wall, covered in rules scrawled in many different hands. Rule number 18 is, in fact, _No bad poetry in the Common Room, on pain of Cheering Charms_. Raoul wrote it himself after the month Gary spent every evening reciting bad poetry to Cythera. It didn’t make Gary stop writing bad poetry, but it _did_ mean he took it to his _own_ damn Common Room.

“But -!” Jon protests.

“Nope, if you’re going to recite bad poetry you have to go back to Gryffindor,” Raoul says ruthlessly. “And in any case I have an essay to finish. Go pine elsewhere.”

“You are a cruel man, Goldenlake,” Jon says mournfully, and goes skipping out. Buri comes down the stairs from the dorms a few minutes later, levitating a stack of books almost as tall as she is.

“How long does this essay have to be again?” she asks, settling down next to Raoul.

“Four feet,” Raoul sighs. “Professor Olau is _mean_ sometimes.”

“Ugh,” Buri says. “Tell you what, if we get at least three feet apiece done tonight I’ll go flying with you tomorrow.”

“You mean I won’t have to go to Hogsmeade with a lovesick Jon? Deal,” Raoul says, grinning, and sets to work.

*

“What do you _mean_ you’re not coming to Hogsmeade with me?” Thayet asks plaintively.

“I said I’d do some Keeping practice with Raoul,” Buri replies, shrugging. “And you know I don’t like Hogsmeade anyway.” She grins mischievously. “Go with Conte.”

“Merlin, Buri, you’re _cruel_ ,” Thayet says.

“Fine, don’t go with Conte. Go with Trebond, she’ll keep you safe,” Buri advises. Thayet looks speculative.

“She _was_ saying something about wanting a new set of dress robes...maybe I can get her to tell me who she’s going to the Yule Ball with. Yeah, alright, I’ll go with Trebond. But see if I bring you any Ice Mice, you cruel woman.”

“Alas, how will I ever survive,” Buri says dryly. “Shoo, go collect Trebond before she gets into another fight with Malven.”

“Oh Merlin, she _would_ ,” Thayet says, and goes rushing off. Buri shakes her head and heads for the pitch, where Raoul is waiting patiently, Quaffle in his hands.

“Not being dragged to Hogsmeade?” he asks cheerfully.

“I sent Thayet after Trebond, should keep them both out of trouble,” Buri replies, catching the Quaffle neatly and mounting her broom.

“Trebond, out of trouble? You’ve gone delusional, Tourakom.”

Buri laughs and launches herself into the air, doing a quick loop and flinging the Quaffle neatly through the goal hoop. Raoul scrambles to catch it. “Eh, either it’ll work or Thayet’ll have some good stories,” Buri says as Raoul tosses the Quaffle back to her. “Now, are you going to Keep or not, Goldenlake?”

“Oh, you’re on,” Raoul says, grinning. “Bring it, Tourakom.” He spreads his arms, blocking nearly all of the goal rings easily, and Buri laughs aloud and sends her broom into a swooping attack.

*

Jon jitters nervously in the entrance hall, watching the staircase that leads down from Gryffindor Tower. “She said she’d meet me here,” he says, for the third time.

“And it’s still five minutes before the hour, so stop _fidgeting_ , Conte,” Raoul says, putting both hands on Jon’s shoulders and holding his friend still by main force. “She and Trebond and Buri are helping each other get ready. They’ll be down soon enough.”

“Trebond? Who’s Trebond going with?” Jon asks, distracted for a moment from his anxiety.

“No idea, she won’t tell anyone,” Raoul says, shrugging. “Suppose we’ll find out in a little while, anyhow.”

A soft sound from the staircase draws their attention, and they both turn. Raoul grins. Thayet is, of course, impossibly beautiful in a deep red gown; Alanna has a set of elegant robes in a lavender that brings out her startling eyes. But Buri, in deep green robes that flow around her and emphasize her poise and grace, outshines them both, so far as Raoul is concerned.

“You look lovely,” he says, as she moves to his side and tucks her hand into the crook of his arm. His own deep blue robes complement hers perfectly, as they were meant to do.

“You clean up pretty nice yourself, Goldenlake,” she says cheerfully.

“Wait,” Jon says, “wait, you - you two -”

“Pay up,” Buri says, grinning up at Raoul. “And you thought he’d catch on sooner.”

“Is it _my_ fault my best friend is utterly oblivious?” Raoul asks plaintively. “Besides, Thayet didn’t catch on until this morning, you said.”

“No, but you still owe me three Sickles,” Buri says composedly, and then the main doors open and a tall, gangly figure hurries in.

“Ah, you’ve not gone in without me, lass,” says George Cooper, and bends to kiss Alanna Trebond full on the mouth. Buri and Raoul both stare. Jon and Thayet, lost in their own little world, don’t seem to notice.

“I was about to,” Alanna replies tartly. “Well, come on, you lot, what are we waiting for?” She links arms with Cooper and they go sweeping by, looking really quite respectable together.

“You heard her,” Buri says, smothering a laugh. “What _are_ we waiting for?”

“This,” Raoul says, and bends to kiss her softly. “There. _Now_ let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> I had so much fun figuring out which Houses these characters would be in. For the record:
> 
> Jonathan "Let's go explore the cursed city, it'll be fun" Conte is a Gryffindor, and Head Boy.  
> Thayet "Let's escort a bunch of orphans through a war-torn country where everyone is hunting me" jian Wilima is a Gryffindor, and Head Girl.  
> Raoul "When people say a knight's work is all glory, I laugh and laugh" Goldenlake is a Hufflepuff, and a Prefect.  
> Buriram "Yes, I will follow my princess through a war zone, why do you ask" Tourakom is a Hufflepuff, and a Prefect.  
> Alanna "Fighting a corporeal spirit of winter is a great idea" Trebond is a Gryffindor. She's the Lioness. No one is surprised, right? She and Thom are in sixth year, everyone else except George is in seventh.  
> Thom "I will be the greatest sorcerer ever" Trebond is a Slytherin, usually referred to by almost everyone as "the ... _other_ Trebond."  
>  Ralon "Claw" Malven is a Slytherin.  
> George "King of Thieves" Cooper is a Slytherin, graduated about two years ago.  
> Gary "Paperwork is fun" Naxen is a Ravenclaw.
> 
> So Best Beloved and I are doing an October ficlet challenge. We each generated a list of pairings we'd be willing to write and a list of prompts we wanted the other person to write, and then traded prompts lists without knowing what the other person's pairing lists were. We'll be doing a ficlet each every day in October. Should be fun!
> 
> I am, as ever, imaginarygolux on tumblr.


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